'You're at war when you get attacked,' Carney says of US trade spat

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Saturday that his country is in a trade war with the United States as he announced tariffs on US goods in retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s 50% tariffs.

“You’re at war when you get attacked; We got attacked,” Carney said, in response to a journalist who asked why it felt like a trade war.

That came after Carney announced retaliatory tariffs on US products after trade talks broke down, triggering new US tariffs.

New Canadian tariffs are set to enter force on September 8, Carney said.

The US meanwhile is looking ahead at how to respond further to the retaliation.

The Canadian measures focus on sectors such as steel, dairy products, agricultural equipment and electrical appliances. “This is a focused response – a focused response to protect and defend our industries and allow them to compete with US products in the Canadian market,” Carney said.

Carney’s move comes in response to Washington’s 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods worth several billion dollars, including wine, ice hockey sticks, furniture and dairy products.

As Canada announced the retaliation, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said, “This is a missed opportunity for Canada to partner with the United States.”

“We don’t have new talks planned with the Canadians. We’re moving forward with measures that respond to Canadian retaliation,” he told Fox News.

The planned tariffs were announced after the deadline set by Trump for a deal to be reached passed without an agreement, meaning 50% tariffs on Canadian goods worth around $20 billion entered into force.

US tariffs were due to enter force on Wednesday

Negotiators from the two neighbouring countries had been discussing an agreement late into the evening in an attempt to avert Trump’s tariffs. Shortly before the deadline expired, Trump postponed the tariffs.

There was talk of reviving the Keystone Pipeline extension, a project long championed by Trump to transport Canadian oil to the US but dropped on objections by environmental groups and Native American tribes.

In return, Canada’s provinces could lift their ban on US alcohol sales.

But after the talks broke down, the two sides accused each other of having prevented an agreement through last-minute demands.

Carney said the US was constantly finding new reasons to justify its tariffs on Canada, citing fentanyl, smoke from forest fires, taxes on US tech companies, and a Canadian advert that quoted former US president Ronald Reagan.

Once the US tariffs kicked in, Carney vowed to respond “dollar for dollar.”

Earlier, he said he had decided to suspend trade negotiations with the US and directed Canada’s negotiators to return to Ottawa, in a statement published shortly before the deadline expired.

“They have worked hard, in good faith, to defend the interests of Canadians throughout these negotiations up until the very last minute,” Carney added. “However, last-minute changes in the US proposed terms were unfair, uneconomic, and called into question the reliability of any deal.”

Greer earlier confirmed the failure of the talks on X. “Tonight, Canada declined to finalize the trade deal under the terms agreed earlier this week,” he wrote.

“Despite the US offer to Canada to receive the best treatment of any major exporter to our market, new demands and walk-backs of other commitments by Canada have upended the careful balance reached in the past days,” Greer said.

The new tariffs are the latest milestone in Trump’s remaking of US trade policy since he returned to office last year.

A White House statement from July 20 said the 50% tariffs would take effect after 30 days.